There's Something Off About Him
by YellowSunflower839
Summary: Mia did not like Atsushi-kun's friend. She did not like him at all. He was smart, beautiful, athletic and handsome and she would probably have a hopeless, humiliating crush on him if he weren't so fishy. Himuro/OC
1. Chapter 1

Hi!

So I recently rewatched KnB in preparation for The Last Game (cue excited squeal) and had this brewing in my head for a few days before I wrote it out. I just couldn't help myself. It takes place about a month before the Winter Cup starts and goes from there. I have a few chapters already written so, for the first part of the story at least, there should be pretty regular updates.

Rated T: language, slight violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko No Basuke (anime or manga) nor any of it's characters - this is intended as a piece of love and admiration for the work.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"Murasakibara-kun!" The furious shout echoed around the gym, threatening to burst Tatsuya's eardrums.

As one, the basketball team turned to Murasakibara, who stood under the hoop happily munching on a bag of snacks and seemingly unaware of the impending danger he was now in. This unwittingly put the team in the perfect to position to watch as a shoe sailed across the court and hit their centre directly in the back of the head with a loud _smack_.

"Murasakibara-kun," the voice yelled again, "I fucking _told_ you!"

Murasakibara, amazingly, appeared to be unconcerned and Tatsuya distantly wondered if he had even felt the blow to his skull. He quite rightly guessed that Murasakibara hadn't when he blinked in apparent surprise as his assailant stormed across the court.

The girl was slightly taller than average, and obviously not Japanese, meaning she was one of the many foreign talents the school liked to recruit. Tatsuya thought that she was in his year, or maybe the one above but he couldn't be sure – he had never really paid much attention to her before. She had short chestnut curls, wild and loose around her neck, pale skin with a small smattering of freckles across her cheeks and burning green eyes. Her expression was one of blazing fury, brow furrowed in a terrifying scowl and her jaw clenched almost painfully. The girl was very pretty, if, you know, vengeful demons were your thing. On cue, Murasakibara hissed, "devil woman," from next to him.

The harpy apparently had the hearing of a bat. She stomped right up to Murasakibara, uncaring of his looming height and powerful hands that could crush her with one lazy swat, and tried to get right in his face, going on her tiptoes to stare up at him. It was futile, obviously, and she only reached about mid-chest but it was a valiant effort, nonetheless. She pointed an accusing finger at him, her other hand clenched into a fist at her side. "Don't _devil-woman_ me, you thief," she yelled, her volume still pitched somewhere between sonic boom and deafening. "I _told_ you that the Reese's Pieces were off limits!"

Tatsuya marked this as the moment that Okamura lost all hope in humanity as the captain realised that a real life blood feud was about to break out on his court over a bag of candy.

"Oh?" Murasakibara sighed, blinking down at the chocolate as though he only just now noticed what he was eating. "But I like them."

The girl stomped her foot in frustration. "I _know_. That's why I told you not to fucking touch them."

Murasakibara held the candy closer to his chest, as though the girl was somehow going to grow a few more inches, develop super strength and snatch the bag right off him. "I want them."

"You can't have them!" The girl had reached her limit, her hair appearing to float ominously around her head as she drew herself up to her full height (an uninspiring five foot six) and lunged forward in an attempt to wrestle the chocolate from Murasakibara by force. Anyone could have told her that it was a useless endeavour as Murasakibara effortlessly held her back with one gigantic hand, staring down at her impassively and entirely unbothered by her furious struggling. It was actually quite depressing to watch – she was trying her absolute hardest, fighting with all her strength against his impossible size and she was no more than a small, mildly irritating fly buzzing at his ear.

After a full minute of intense struggle the girl gave up, stepping back from Murasakibara and panting heavily, her hair now mussed and face flushed from exertion.

Tatsuya stepped forward and tried to come between the two warring teenagers, reasoning that it was probably written somewhere in his unofficial baby-sitting duties that he was expected to stop Murasakibara from splattering another student's brains all over the gym floor when the girl turned her murderous eyes on him.

"Stay out of this, emo-boy," she snapped.

Fukui snickered from behind him as Tatsuya raised a single brow at the nickname. He held his hands up in surrender, backing away a few steps but said nothing to the fuming banshee.

She turned back to Murasakibara, her eyes now glinting dangerously as she said, with the air of someone delivering the ultimate trump card, "I'm going to start locking my windows from now on."

For reasons unknown to the basketball club, this was some next level kind of threat. The girl wielded a power over Murasakibara that they, without hesitation, would kill to get their hands on. They watched in nothing short of awe as Muraskibara reached lazily into his bag and dropped a few of the revered candies into the girl's waiting hand, sighing like this was the single most inconvenient thing a person could ever have to do.

The girl, sensing that this was the most she was ever going to get out of Murasakibara, also sighed deeply, frowning down at the rich chocolates. She pinched the bridge of her nose, quietly counted to five under her breath and then marched off, her scowl only slightly less severe than it had been when she had first barged in. She didn't even spare the rest of the basketball club a second glance, only smiling apologetically at Coach on her way out. Of course the two demon women knew each other.

"I think I want to marry her," Okamura whispered into the shocked silence that followed her departure.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone!

Thank you so much for all your favourites and follows - they made my day! I was intending to update this story every Wednesday but I'm going on holiday this Saturday and won't be back for two weeks so the next update will be on Wednesday the 19th April. Sorry! The next chapter will be a lot longer though!

Rated T: language.

Constructive criticism is welcome!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Amelia Carter's friendship with Murasakibara Atsushi was a strange one.

For one thing, Mia was in her second year at Yōsen High, while Murasakibara was only in his first, his time there amounting to a grand total of seven months. Mia had never been to Japan before coming to school there and, as far as anyone knew, Murasakibara had never visited the US. There was simply no way the two could have met before the start of the school year. Additionally, they shared no extracurricular activities and their timetables couldn't possibly overlap.

It was an intriguing puzzle for Murasakibara's classmates, who speculated wildly about why their, for all intents and purposes, uncaring and lazy acquaintance was friends with the energetic and slightly eccentric upperclassman. Stories of their forbidden, sordid affair flew through the halls of Yōsen, some more outrageous than others. One boy was convinced that Murasakibara was blackmailing her into a relationship with him because _there was just simply no way that that tall freak could ever get a girl that pretty to even look at him, let alone wave at him in the cafeteria._ Others were sure it was the other way around and that the _weird, no good upperclassman must have gotten pregnant and is using it to make poor, poor, innocent Murasakibara go out with her._

The truth was far simpler and almost tragically boring.

Yōsen was an elite boarding school in the cold, almost arctic conditions of Akita and, as such, required top of the range accommodation for its mostly rich student body. Wishing to avoid all the drama, complications and inappropriate behaviour mixed dorms would bring, there was one girl's dorm and one boy's dorm, sat innocently side by side. Simple but effective.

Through luck of the draw, Mia had managed to snag a corner room on the top floor this year. The room was slightly bigger than the rest and had not one but _two_ windows, making it a palace in comparison to her neighbour's closet of a room. Murasakibara, at six foot ten, needed more space than the average high school boy and had acquired a corner room out of pure necessity. The two rooms, each at the end of their respective dorms, looked into one another, separated by slim but steep drop.

At first, Murasakibara had loathed Mia. She played loud music, stayed up late and often had a stream of people going in and out of her room, causing mayhem and havoc and disrupting his sleep (one, she had one regular visitor). Every time she sat at that stupid desk by that stupid window, playing that stupid music he would slam his own window shut, making sure to glare furiously as he did.

This carried on much the same way for the first few weeks of their acquaintance and Murasakibara had long since decided that he didn't like his irritating neighbour but it was too much of an effort to actually do anything about it until one day, at sunset, he had come back from practice to find her staring absentmindedly out of the window.

She had appeared to be watching the sunset avidly, with her chin propped up on one hand as she watched the sun descend from the horizon, the array of yellows, blues, oranges and pinks reflecting in her eyes.

Now, Murasakibara really did not care about other people or their problems and he barely spared a second thought for the other students at their school. The only reason he even knew his neighbour's name was because he hated her so much. He did not care about her life, her problems, her goals, he did not care about why she was looking out the window like that or about how picturesque the scene was. What Murasakibara did care about, however, was the bag American candies she had resting on her desk.

She had jolted in surprise when she had caught him staring at her bag of gummies like a starving man on the brink of death but then she had smiled warmly, offering him some of her sugary American snack. Soft jazz music had been floating through the air, different from her usual crap, drifting from her window through to his, enticing him to drowsily settle himself at his own window and extend his frighteningly long arm across space between the two buildings and help himself to her candy. They had sat in a companionable silence until the brilliant glow of the sun had been replaced by the delicate twinkle of the stars, eating their way through a deeply concerning amount of sugar.

It became something of a routine, once a week they would sit down at their desks, prop a window open and share an American snack as they did their homework (Mia studied, Murasakibara did whatever it was that Murasakibara does). After a while, Murasakibara figured that seeing as Mia regularly offered him her candy with no problem anyway, she wouldn't object if he took a bag here or there while she was out. It was laughably easy for him to reach across the drop between their rooms anytime he wanted, flick the latch on her window and slide his hand inside, helping himself to the food on her desk.

Mia had reacted angrily ( _he hadn't goddamned asked if he could eat my snacks, dammit_ ), but had eventually sighed, rolling her eyes and telling him which food he was allowed and which was strictly off limits (anything her brother had sent her). Murasakibara was pleased to find that he now had daily access to a number of rare treats that were difficult to get a hold of in Akita and had promptly dubbed her "Mi-chin."

They didn't talk much at first. Murasakibara had no socialisation skills whatsoever and neither did Mia, if they were being perfectly honest. It seemed to work for them, somehow, as Murasakibara's apathetic indifference meshed well with Mia's prickly temper. Their conversations had been pretty one-sided on Mia's part for a long time before Murasakibara gradually began to open up to her. Whether it was out of obligation for the regular access to food she provided or a genuine desire to connect with the girl, no one will know. He would never be considered _chatty_ but sometimes he said more than five lines in one conversation, and sometimes he would complete actual paragraphs, which was positively friendly for Murasakibara.

Their relationship steadily progressed until one summer day, Muraskaibara had woken up, greeted Mia with a sleepy, "oi, Mi-chin, pass me some Goldfish," perfectly casual, and had grudgingly noted that, against his will, Mia might actually be considered something of a friend. How annoying.

Mia was irritatingly perceptive and, probably using her evil witch powers or something, had sensed his change in attitude towards her. She took his acceptance of their friendship as some sort of mistaken permission to harass him at all hours of the day. _Atsushi-kun, you should go to practice. Atsushi-kun do your damn homework. Atsushi-kun don't nap in class, you dumbass._ It was awful. He should never have spoken to that annoying devil-woman. Yet, somehow, he could never quite muster up the appropriate feelings of irritation and anger that would make her go away.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone!

So I know I said I would update on the 19th but then I realised how dumb that was considering I have the next chapter already written so I thought I would give you the next chapter before I went away. The next update will definitely be on the 19th though!

Thank you so much for all your follows and favourites!

Rated T: language.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

Mia did not like Atsushi-kun's friend. She did not like him at all.

He was smart, beautiful, athletic and handsome and she would probably have a hopeless, humiliating crush on him if he weren't so _fishy_.

"I'm telling you, Akane-chan, there is something off about him," she gravely told her best and, other than Murasakibara, only friend, glaring darkly at Himuro Tatsuya across the cafeteria.

The teenager in question sat with the rest of the basketball team at a table by one of the grand, arched windows that let the bright winter sun bathe the cafeteria in a kind, yellow glow. He seemed not to notice that Mia was trying to murder him through sheer willpower alone as he listened to whatever that guy Okamura was animatedly blabbering on about.

"Oh yeah," Yamamoto Akane drawled sarcastically, "you can see the _evil_ glint in his eyes even from this distance. Look at him, eating dinner and having friends – what a monster."

Mia shot her dark haired friend an unimpressed look, "you laugh now but when this school is in ruin and Atsushi-kun is lying in a pool of his own blood, don't say I didn't warn you."

Akane snorted, rolling her eyes and scoffing lightly at Mia. Mia childishly stuck her tongue out at her in retaliation before going back to her meal, pushing all thoughts of Murasakibara's annoying babysitter from her mind. She had better things to do. It's not like she actually had to deal with him.

Mia was painfully wrong.

* * *

The day after the _incident_ in the gym was the beginning of the end. Mia had been going about her day, blissfully and ignorantly unaware of the horrors she would soon have to face, horrors that came in the form of Himuro Tatsuya's polite smile and arrogant eyes.

She made her way through the library, carefully winding around the city of desks and towering bookshelves that twisted around the cavernous space. She hated the library. It was dark, cold, smelled terrible and, most of all, it was silent. Mia didn't like it when it was quiet.

But Akane had told her to meet her there after lunch, so Mia had no choice but to go, shuddering at the suffocating silence and musty smell. Her light footsteps made soft thumps on the carpeted floor and even that was enough for the other students to send her bloodshot glares of pure loathing, like goblins dragged hissing and spitting into the daylight. See, this, _this_ was why she hated the place. She couldn't even breathe without someone trying to kill her with their eyes.

By nature, Mia was loud. She hated sitting still and she hated having to keep quiet. She liked to listen to music while she worked, liked to hum and fidget, pace and groan, fiddle with whatever was in front of her. She was sure that if she did any of that in the library they would never find her body. _Damn, Akane, you're lucky I love you_ , she thought as she braved the terrors of the shadow realm that was the World History corner.

She dumped her stuff on the first free desk, shooting her own very potent glare at the first person that even tried to give her a dirty look for the slight disturbance. The third year hastily looked away and Mia visibly brightened in satisfaction.

She tried to do her literature assignment but quickly got bored and instead stared doodling in the corner of her binder. She wondered what was for dinner. Yaki Soba? Or Gyudon? Or maybe it would be Sukiyaki?! She could almost taste it, almost smell it. Her stomach grumbled.

She had not been waiting for long when Akane breathlessly slumped into the seat next to her, panting and very sweaty.

"Ew," Mia whined, wrinkling her nose at her and edging away, dragging her books as well so Akane didn't drip sweat onto them.

Akane huffed before her lips turned up in a sly smile, her onyx eyes lighting to a dark brown as she draped herself all over Mia, making sure to rub her sweaty cheeks all over Mia's face. Mia went into fits, desperately scrambling away from Akane's death grip and trying to scoot her chair across the wooden floor. It made that grating, screeching noise that felt like some terrifying creature of the night was dragging a sharp talon down her back, like nails on a chalkboard.

The two girls froze in tandem at the loud, jarring sound that dared to disrupt the still, quiet air of The Demon's territory, holding painfully still, not even breathing. They knew what was coming.

And sure enough, like a bat summoned from hell, the librarian materialised from the shadows in front of them and whispered in a voice that promised eternal torment, "get out."

They didn't need to be told twice as they tripped all over each other in their panicked attempt to escape the librarian's wrath, speeding out of there like Hades himself was on their trail. They slumped against the wall in the hallway outside, breathing exaggerated sighs of relief to have escaped with their lives.

Once they had recovered, Akane stood up and tutted at Mia, wagging a disapproving finger down at her, "You always wind The Demon up whenever we go in there, Mia-chan, have some respect next time."

Mia scowled, aiming a half-hearted kick at Akane's ankles as her ears flushed a delicate red. "That was your fault, Aka-chan!"

Akane giggled, giving Mia a mischievous smile. "Maybe, _maybe_ , I was partially to blame today but you can't deny that it's almost always your fault that we get kicked out, Mi-chan."

Mia huffed, grumbling under her breath but doing nothing to deny Akane's accusation. "I still don't see what's so bad about doing yoga in the library."

Akane snorted and opened her mouth to reply when they were interrupted.

"Hey," the loud voice echoed down the empty hallway, "Carter-san, do you have a moment?"

Mia looked around in surprise, not really expecting to see the entire idiot brigade, more commonly known as the basketball team, minus Atsushi, striding towards her, having emerged from the murky depths of the library themselves. They made an imposing picture; most of them were well over six foot but it was difficult to take them seriously when Okamura stumbled up to the two girls, nervously stammering and unable to look both Mia and Akane in the eye.

"I – uh, that is, we – uh – were wondering, how it is you – uh…"

Fukui rolled his eyes, bodily shoving his captain out of the way without a shred of mercy. "What that love-struck fool is trying to say is that we wanted to know how you handled Murasakibara so well yesterday."

Mia gave them all an exasperated look, "through bribery, obviously," she jerked her chin at Himuro, "this one knows."

Himuro had been standing almost passively to the left, face mostly expressionless except for a small polite smile, his one visible eye intelligent and dark. "Ah, yes, snacks. Atsushi becomes almost agreeable once you ply him with food."

It didn't exactly take a genius to figure out that bribing Atsushi with snacks was the most effective way to get him to do something but it didn't always guarantee success.

"Look, it's flattering that you all think I hold some kind of influence over Atsushi-kun but the truth is: he does what he wants." She sighed, rubbing her forehead as though she could feel a headache coming on. "I mean yeah, bribing him with food works sometimes but he has to actually like you if he is going to cooperate with you." She turned a disapproving eye on all of them, scowling deeply. "And treating him like something to be used, something to be manipulated into doing your bidding isn't the way to go about it." She glared, her tone turning scathing, "maybe try treating him like an actual human being, like a person, for once."

Honestly, Mia had never really interacted with the basketball team and it was definitely presumptuous of her to lecture them like that, she knew this, but she didn't like the way Atsushi talked about them sometimes. She didn't like the way Murasakibara would come back to the dorm every now and then, his normal, droopy stare replaced with something that looked agonizingly like dejection. And it had occurred to her how _hard_ it must be to be Murasakibara Atsushi. To be so tall, especially when he was so young, to have all these people who didn't know him, who were scared of him, thought of him something akin to a monster, suddenly want to use his height now that it was useful to them.

The basketball team gaped at her, their cheeks slightly red with shame. Okamura coughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I – yeah, you're right. We're sorry."

She was still frowning at them. "It's not me you should apologise to."

They nodded and said a stiff goodbye, scurrying off. It was only once they disappeared around the corner and Mia turned back to Akane that she realised Himuro had stayed behind.

He wasn't smiling that soft, polite tilt of the lips he normally wore, instead he frowned delicately at her, looking heartbreakingly beautiful. "Do you really think they treat him like that?"

Mia sighed and plopped down on the floor next to Akane, who had been studiously trying to make it look like she wasn't listening, awkwardly playing with her phone.

Himuro gracefully leaned on the wall next to Mia, head tilted slightly to the side to watch her. The afternoon sun shone behind him, bringing out some of the soft brown highlights in his otherwise inky black hair. If Mia were a weaker person, her breath would have caught in her throat at the sight. Luckily Mia was made of steel and iron and lead and… other strong stuff. Yeah. The _point_ was that Himuro, with all his charming words and good looks, had no effect on her whatsoever.

Well. _Almost_ no effect. She wasn't blind, after all.

She sighed again, sounding, for all the world, like she was seventy instead of seventeen. "No, I know they don't think of him like that but sometimes I don't think they realise that _he_ doesn't know that." She turned worried but firm eyes on him. "I know Atsushi's hard to deal with, I know how frustrating he can be. God, I want to fling him out the window myself sometimes and with all his talk of hating basketball it must be infuriating for you guys. But I think, deep down Atsushi doesn't _really_ hate basketball, and I think, deep down, you all know this too. His problem is that he won't put the in effort if he doesn't think it's worth it and you all need to convince him that _your team_ is worth his time and to do that you need to show him you appreciate, well, him instead of his size." She shut her eyes, resting her head against the wall. "Ugh, I feel like I'm his mom away from home."

Himuro was quiet for a moment before he laughed softly, "no, I think you hit him too much for that."

Mia smiled as well, opening her eyes to look back at him, her stare amused and a little searching, as though she were trying to figure him out. They sat in a companionable silence before Himuro turned back to her.

"You're a lot smarter than you look," he said, like this was somehow not insulting.

Mia choked, flying up to glare at him. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

He smiled charmingly at her, his eye softening into a crescent moon ever so slightly. "What would _you_ think about a person's intelligence if you saw them trying to pick a fight with Atsushi?"

She paused for a moment. "I guess I see your point," she grouched, crossing her arms and looking away.

"I have tried, you know," he told her, after a moment or two, "to tell them to include Atsushi more and get them to treat him like a friend rather than a naughty child but they're convinced Atsushi hates them."

"I mean, that's not far from the truth."

Himuro sighed, "I guess you're right."

"Of course," Mia sniffed, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

Akane snorted, muttering under her breath, "I don't know what you're getting so cocky about, you couldn't even find Akita on a map last night."

Mia shot a death glare at Akane who smiled prettily at her. She needed new friends.

Himuro coughed lightly and Mia suspected he was laughing at her. She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Look, emo-san," she said, "I don't like you."

The only reaction Himuro gave was the slight widening of his eye, whether that was in shock or anger or whatever else, Mia had no idea.

"There is something _off_ about you and I don't like it. But Atsushi likes you and, he would never admit it, but he thinks of you as a friend. That makes us acquaintances. I'm willing to work with you if you have any concerns about Atsushi's well-being but don't try to get all buddy-buddy with me. I'm not interested." And with that, Mia calmly picked her stuff off the floor, linked arms with a snickering Akane who shot Himuro a slightly apologetic look, and walked away, leaving Himuro standing there with, for the first time since they had met him, an open look of shock on his face.

* * *

A short while later, the two girls were sleepily lounging around in Akane's dorm room, impatiently glancing at the clock every two seconds as it slowly ticked closer to dinner, when Akane cast Mia a disappointed look. "That was _mean_ , Mi-chan,"

Mia avoided her eyes, fiddling with a loose thread on her jumper. "I know. I was being honest though."

Akane pursed her lips. "Not entirely."

Mia's head shot up, eyes wide.

Akane gave her a knowing look, "you're jealous of him, scared he will take Atsushi from you."

Mia huffed, slumping down in her beanbag. Akane was far too perceptive for her own good. "Well, yeah, but that's not why I don't like him."

Akane raised a questioning brow, rubbing out a mistake on her math worksheet with a pink bunny eraser.

"Come on," Mia said, " _no one_ can be that nice, that polite, that happy and that unaffected _all the time_. He is too perfect. He is hiding something. I don't like it."

Akane rolled her eyes, smiling wryly at her friend. "You watch way too many of those cop shows – not everyone who is hiding something is covering up a crime, Mi-chan." She patted her on the head. "He just happens to have an excellent poker face. Honestly, I think he's a little boring. He's hot, sure, but that poker face isn't hiding anything interesting. I reckon he does it to protect himself, protect his _feelings_. I bet you anything he writes angsty poetry in his spare time." She smiled slyly at Mia, "you weren't too far off with the emo nickname."

Mia gave Akane a pointed look. " _That_ was mean, Aka-chan."

Akane shrugged, "I'm a mean person."

Mia snorted, "You like to think you are. I've seen your soft, marshmallow centre though. You're a tsundere."

Akane looked beyond offended _. "I am not."_

"Are."

"Not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Are."

A small scuffle broke out between the two girls and Akane employed her viciously sharp elbows while Mia retaliated with years of hard-earned experience. There was no clear victor by the time it hit 6:30 and they declared a truce so they could sprint to the cafeteria. It was an unspoken rule in Yōsen that it was every man for himself when it came to meal times.

* * *

Mia would die, without flinching and without hesitation, for Yōsen's chefs. Would take a bullet, eat poison, all of it, if it would ensure the survival of their meticulously, lovingly made works of art. She had almost _cried_ the first time she had tasted one of their masterpieces. Dinner was a very special time for Mia and Akane, trespassers and interlopers would be terminated without mercy. Before Himuro, Murasakibara had been a passionate activist for this cause and his solid mass had kept any scavengers desperate for any remains far away from their possessively guarded food. But with Himuro's arrival and cunning courtship, Murasakibara now spent his meals with the basketball team and Mia and Akane found themselves fending off prying hands and hungry stomachs on their own.

It was a dog eat dog world out there but the two friends were smart and, more importantly, vicious. Everyone knew to stay away from them at meal times if they wanted to keep their eyes firmly in their head (Akane was not above aiming for the face) but, it seemed, no one had told the new boy that.

Not that Himuro was all that new, to be fair. He had arrived in the late summer and had inserted himself seamlessly into the daily life and gossip of Yōsen. Not a day went by where he didn't receive a love confession, where girls (and a good few teachers) would sigh forlornly as he walked by. It seemed like he had always been there, which maybe explained why no one had thought to tell him he must never, under any circumstances, approach _that_ table at dinner.

* * *

Tatsuya did not know what to think of Atsushi's friend. She was rude, loud, had a sharp tongue and a nasty temper, and yet she was surprisingly perceptive, painfully honest and loyal almost to a fault. And for some infuriating reason, she had decided she did not like him.

Tatsuya didn't think it was arrogant to be aware of his good looks and his intellect, his natural charisma – it was a simple fact that, genetically, he was very blessed. And maybe he crafted a carefully controlled mask, maybe he liked to subtly manipulate people into liking him, into doing what he wanted but it's not like he was doing anything _wrong_. It was human nature to want people to like you and he just happened to be a lot better at it than everyone else.

It's not like he did it all the time either – for the most part, Himuro didn't really care all that much about what other people thought and, usually, his polite smile and good looks were enough to endear him to anyone new. He wasn't some evil mastermind who enjoyed toying with other's emotions. He kept to himself mostly and had only a few close friends whom he opened up to. It was flattering that so many girls seemed to like him but it was more of a nuisance than anything else. Still, he didn't want to hurt their feelings and always made sure to be kind about rejecting their advances. He had never met someone he couldn't charm before.

Which is where Mia came in. She had straight up said to his face that she didn't like him and he wanted to know why. Tatsuya knew, theoretically, that not everyone he met was going to like him but it was a problem he had never encountered before. Tatsuya liked a challenge. Tatsuya liked proving people wrong. Tatsuya could also admit, if only to himself, that her semi-public declaration of distaste for him earlier that day had annoyed him. She didn't even _know_ him. Really, where did she come off dismissing him like that?

By the time the sunset had rolled around, Tatsuya had formulated a careful plan. Mia Carter was going to like him. Mia Carter was going to like him a lot. Mia Carter could take her suspicious glances and poorly veiled skeptisim and shove it. And, maybe, along the way, he could have a little fun – that temper of hers would get her in trouble one day and, really, it was his duty as a _concerned_ member of the public to help solve that problem.

* * *

It all began at dinner.

Akane and Mia had dug into their meal like starving wolves as Tatsuya made his way across the cafeteria. It would have been very easy to envision sharp fangs protruding from their mouths as they bit into their noodles but he didn't let it deter him. He gracefully slid into the seat next to Mia when she wasn't looking and patiently waited for her to notice him.

It did not take long. Sensing that something was amiss, Mia turned curiously to her left, still chewing on a bite, when she abruptly came to face to face with Himuro, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Mia promptly choked, a large udon noodle getting stuck in her throat in her surprise. She hacked and coughed, gulping down copious amounts of water to clear her windpipe while Himuro looked on in undisguised amusement. The bastard.

Tatsuya thought things were going very well, all things considered but then Mia finally cleared her throat. If Tatsuya were a weaker man, he would have gulped and ran at the look Mia and Akane gave him. The two girls were trying to eviscerate him with their eyes alone as they hunched defensively around their food.

"What do you want?" The girl, Yamamoto Akane, hissed, with her muscles clenched as though she were getting ready to lunge across the table at him if he so much as looked at her rice.

Mia, in a burst of incredible speed, had flown to the other end of the table in a move that looked well practiced, like the two girls had a protocol, a strategy, for dealing with strangers who sat with them.

At the next table, a first year on the basketball club's second string eyed him nervously, his eyes darting between Tatsuya and the two girls, like Tatsuya was in danger, like he had stumbled into the lion's den. "Um, Himuro-senpai, would – would you like to sit with us?" He gulped, "away from Yamamoto-senpai and Carter-senpai?"

Tatsuya found himself inexplicably nervous. He brushed his sudden unease aside, his expression still open and friendly. "No, I am happy here, thank you."

The boy gave him a look that seemed to say, "it's your funeral," but left them alone, turning back to his friends with a small shrug.

Mia and Akane were still scowling at him and he was sure that if they could, they would have been growling and snarling, like a dog with a bone. He had only ever seen Murasakibara this defensive over food and some of his friendship with the two girls was beginning to make sense to Tatsuya.

He chuckled lightly, acting like they weren't seconds away from ripping him to pieces, "I'm not here to steal your food."

Instantaneously, the scowls dropped but he noted that their arms still stayed wrapped around their bowls protectively. Mia eyed him with no small measure of wariness. "So why are you here then?"

He suppressed an irritated sigh at her attitude and instead turned the charm up, giving her his most handsome smile, the one that gave him a slight dimple in the corner of his mouth. A girl at the next table almost passed out. "I am here as a duty bound classmate to return your book – you left it in the library."

The basketball team, to their annoyance, had bore witness to Mia and Akane's dramatics in the library earlier that day and Liu had noticed that Mia had left behind a small notebook in her rush to escape death by fire at the hands of their vindictive librarian. Himuro had _kindly_ and _gallantly_ volunteered to return to it to her and when Fukui had given him a suspicious look had innocently pointed out that, through Murasakibara, he was in the best position to do so.

Mia froze in surprise at his gesture, the defensive barrier she had made around her meal dropping as she cautiously reached across the table for the book. She moved slowly and carefully, like she was putting her hand in a bear trap and Tatsuya didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed. What did she think he was going to do? Try to chop her hand off?

"Thank you," she said to him through narrowed eyes, flipping through the book cautiously as though she were going to find it covered in graffiti. Tatsuya would have been offended but it was honestly a fair assumption on her part – the book _had_ been in the vicinity of Fukui, after all.

Tatsuya gave her another charming smile, acting as though she wasn't being ridiculous and openly rude. "It's no problem, anything for a friend of Atsushi."

She glared at him but clearly couldn't find anything to say that wouldn't make her come off as a complete jackass. Tatsuya suppressed a small smirk.

"Well, that's all I came here to do so thank you for your time, Carter-chan, I will see you soon." He nodded and stood up, making sure to turn around and give her a friendly wave in farewell as he got halfway across the cafeteria, struggling not to smirk at her as she sputtered in indignation.

Lui took one look at the smug look Tatsuya wore as he sat back down with them and said, "whatever it is, I don't want to know. Leave me out of it."

Tatsuya smiled, "I'm not doing anything."

Okamura gave him a flat look. "Just make sure she doesn't interrupt practice again in a fit of rage," was all he said.

Murasakibara, showing a rare interest in their conversation, gave Tatsuya a dark look. "Be careful with Mi-chin, she isn't nice when you annoy her."

No one quite knew if he was concerned for Tatsuya's well-being or Mia's but it did not matter, Tatsuya was irritated anyway. He was perfectly capable of handling an annoying teenage girl, even if she was a monster in disguise. "Thanks for the concern, Atsushi, but I will be fine. It's not like I'm trying to get her attention anyway."

It was a blatant lie but no one seemed to catch it, except maybe Fukui who gave him an amused, if doubtful look. Tatsuya just smiled innocently at him and Fukui rolled his eyes.

* * *

She knew it. She _knew_ there was something fishy going on with Atsushi's friend. The gall, the _nerve_ of him! Approaching her at dinner like that, with his winning smiles and elegant manners, acting all gentlemanly and kind – it was _weird_. Suspicious. What did he want from her? No one acted so affably, so smoothly in the face of her blatant hostility if they weren't up to something. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the box but she certainly wasn't stupid either – she knew he was trying to pull something. She just didn't know what.

"Stop sulking and finish your food," sighed Akane, watching Mia pout into her noodles.

"I'm not sulking," she mumbled while glaring moodily at the table.

Akane huffed a small laugh, "sure," she drawled sarcastically but it was lost on Mia as she contemplated her conversation with Himuro.

"Is it Atsushi he's after? Does he want to get rid of me so he can have Atsushi all to himself?" She frowned. "No, that doesn't make sense – what would that have to do with my notebook? Unless," she mused, tone taking on a darker edge, "unless he is trying to lull me into a false sense of security, make me think he's my friend before he snatches Atsushi right from under my nose."

Akane whacked her on the back of the head, giving Mia her patented Unimpressed Look. "Don't be ridiculous, Mia. I won't deny that the guy is up to something but I doubt it's anything half as dramatic as your making it out to be."

"You don't know that," said Mia, rubbing her head.

"I do – this isn't some dumb drama, honestly, get it together woman." Akane sighed for what felt like the millionth time that evening, rolling her eyes in a well-practiced move and waving a dismissive hand. "He's probably winding you up and pushing your buttons because you said you didn't like him earlier. A guy like that has probably never met a girl who hasn't fawned all over him before in his life – he's probably trying to get you to like him so he can prove you wrong or something equally dumb like that."

"Don't be silly, Akane, I think we just established that this isn't some drama or cheesy manga." Mia watched Himuro from across the room, squinting suspiciously.

Akane just gave Mia an exasperated, if slightly fond, look, shrugging her shoulders before digging back into her meal, seemingly casting the whole stupid affair from her mind. "Speaking of dramas, how is your literature essay going?"

Mia's face immediately darkened and she dug into her noodles with an unnecessary level of violence. "I haven't even started it yet," she whined, "don't speak to me about it – I want to continue living in denial for a few hours longer."

"It's due _tomorrow_ , idiot. Why do you always do this to yourself? I'm starting to think you're a masochist."

"So do I, to be honest." Mia slumped onto the table, her noodles forgotten in her despair. "Procrastination: one billion, me: zero."

"Procrastination wouldn't win if you just sat down and forced yourself to work – it's not some evil, sentient force controlling your actions."

"Except it is." Mia gave Akane an irritated look. This was a conversation they had almost every week and almost every week Mia's answer remained the same. For some unfathomable reason, she could never bring herself to just do her literature homework. Mia never had any problems with any other subject – Japanese literature just seemed to have it out for her. "You don't know what it's like, Aka-chan, I just can't make myself do the essay – I'm cursed!" She pressed her face into the cool surface of the table, flailing about and whining miserably.

"I have no sympathy for you whatsoever – you spent all day watching terrible YouTube videos instead of working. I _watched_ you play video games while I did my essay. You have no one to blame but yourself," Akane said without a trace of comfort as she delicately ate her meal with a grace and finesse that Mia sorely lacked.

"What are you? My mom?"

"Apparently – if you're going to act like a child, someone has to be the responsible parent."

Mia snorted. "Oh yeah, because lobbing water balloons from your window is _so_ mature."

"Revenge transcends the boundaries of what is considered childish and mature, Mi-chan," Akane said with an air of regal authority, "those idiots had it coming."

"You keep telling yourself that."

* * *

Mia hadn't been stupid enough to think that the conversation at dinner was the last she would be seeing of Himuro Tatsuya but, naive, young and unused to the cruel ways of the world, she had assumed it was at least the end of it for that evening.

So when she arrived back at her dorm after a good few hours spent begging Akane for the books she had forgotten to check out of the library but needed to write the essay due in only ten hours, it was with a tired, muted horror that she found herself staring at him waving through Atsushi's bedroom window.

She turned wide, betrayed eyes on Atsushi-kun, who only shrugged at her before going back to his chips. She glanced back at Himuro, who's soft, polite smile had now turned slightly smug and she snarled, striding forward and yanking her curtains shut with enough force to almost rip them from the pole.

She stood there and silently fumed for a few seconds before taking a deep, calming breath. What was wrong with her? Why was she this mad? He wasn't even doing anything and she was ready to scream in frustration.

She stomped angrily to her desk, flicking her lamp on and slammed all her books on top, digging through her pencil case for a pen. She hadn't even started her essay and she was already bored to near tears. Her phone buzzed and she eagerly jumped at the distraction, scrambling across her room to get it.

 _From: Unknown number_

 _That wasn't very polite._

She resisted the very strong urge to punch a hole through her wall and instead texted back furiously.

 _To: Unknown number_

 _How did you get my number?!_

It only took a few seconds for her phone to buzz again.

 _From: Unknown number_

 _Atsushi-kun, of course._

She growled, trying to glare at Atsushi through her closed curtains. That ass – he would do anything for a box of pocky. She changed his name on her phone.

 _To: Traitor_

 _You're dead to me._

Her phone buzzed again.

 _From: Unknown number_

 _You should be nicer to your friends._

 _To: Unknown number._

 _Fuck off._

 _From: Unknown Number_

 _You know, you might hurt people's feelings if you're so rude to them all the time._

 _To: Unknown number_

 _Thanks for your concern but the only one I'm rude to is you :)_

 _From: Unknown number_

 _Ouch :(_

She didn't have time for this. Her essay was due in less than ten hours and she couldn't spend all night sending increasingly snarky texts to Atsushi's annoying friend. She would make him leaver her alone tomorrow.


End file.
